7839-R1_MSA_Dec2021_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

local ATV club trailmaster, we had 9 clubs in attendance. The information presented was well received and questions were answered at the end of the presentation. Materials and contact information were provided to the clubs. Memberships are coming in and Dee is doing a great job. If you haven’t sent your membership form in, it’s not too late! If you need a form, let us know. There are many options to get one for you. We can mail one, email the form or print a form from our Face- book Page. No excuses! We can work it out. We did not do any of our raffle drawings for November, as we did not have a meeting for RSR club members. We will do two sepa- rate drawings in December for November and December. Our Meetings are held on the Second Sat- urday of every month. We start with a Potluck Supper at 5:30pm with the meeting to follow at 6pm. The next meeting will be December 11th. We do offer to join us on zoom, if you aren’t able to attend in person. Check out our Facebook Page for the link under Events. Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season. Charlene Fraser Rockabema Snow Rangers With Covid still looming over us the Club is still busy with meetings. Membership pro- motion is underway and events for members to enjoy in the upcoming months. There will be a Christmas Party in December, February members that want to participate will do an overnight ride to Madawaska and stay at Four Corners and in April there will be a Spring Dance/Raffle for all to enjoy. NORDIC LAKERS New Sweden, ME

lodge for our meals as soon as we are able to groom. Every Saturday, we serve a hot meal for our ski doo adventurers. Come and enjoy a good meal, some Northern Maine comradery and tell us about your adventures. We have March 12 th , 2022 pegged for our annual, “Race Your Neighbor” ski-doo race. Come test your sled and yourself against some of the best sleds and riders Northern Maine has to offer. We even have a portion of the day set aside for the young ones and the juniors. Haven’t you been stuck inside long enough?. Enough already. Come North. Looking forward to seeing you all! Kim M Ouellette PORTAGE LAKERS, sc Portage Lake, ME Hello Fellow Snowmobile Enthusiasts, As we finish the year 2021, I’d like to take a moment to thank all the volunteers and mem- bers who have lent a hand one way or another through the years. Without your generosity, our club would not be nearly as successful as it is. Thank You for all you do, whether it’s big or small, we appreciate it. The guys made quick work of a big proj- ect. The Beaver Brook Bridge on ITS 90 was in need of resurfacing. Thank you to Glenn, Dan, Mark, Beech, Pat, Josh, Bruce, Greg, Lendell, Claude & Jarrad for the labor, and M. Rafford Bridges for the use of the equipment needed to get the project done in a weekend. As usual, the crew worked for hot dogs and potato chips! We have also put a plan in place to start con- struction of a new groomer shed in the spring of 2022. If anyone is interested in volunteer- ing or would like to attend any of the meet- ings, please reach out to Bruce Laveway or email us at portagelakersmembership@gmail. com for more information. When snow flies and the trails are passable, we will be out checking trail signs and condi- tions. As always, check out Facebook for our latest updates. I’m certain once there are a few inches of snow on the ground, we will be out with a tote sled full of stickers and signs. Any excuse to hit the trails, even if it involves a little work! Our monthly meetings are held on the first Friday of each month at 6:30 pm at the Por- tage Town Hall. Please join us to show your support. Also, thank you to the Town of Por- tage for opening the conference room for us to meet. Much appreciated! The next big event we will be hosting is the Pie Auction on February 19, 2022. If you have never attended this event, you may want to, because it is so much fun! Too Far North will be playing after the auction. Be sure to bring your checkbook, your dancing shoes, and a sense of humor! The Pie Auction never disap- points. Watch the Facebook page for updates. That’s all for now. Join a club, support the sport, and do a snow dance! From my home to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Tammy Kenney, Club Secretary Well, I guess the first thing to do is wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. Remember to spend time with family, hold them close, and make sure to tell them that you love them! In Benedicta the moose, deer, and partridge hav- ing been falling just as fast as the leaves have been. Getting to the snowmobiling end of things, we have some things going on that you need to be made aware of. The first thing is that the club is need of finding a new Treasurer. I have volunteered to take the position as I have held that office before, but at last month’s meeting it was brought up that we might get a more permanent person if anyone was interested in doing it. So, if you think you might be that person, please contact our President, Keith Sanford @ 999.9008 - thanks. BENEDICTA SNOWGANG Benedicta, ME

Our second issue is on ITS#81 from Sher- man/Benedicta/Mattawamkeag Cutoff. Start- ing right from Taylor’s Shell going south on ITS#81 sledders will be using the McAvoy Trail again this season, as there is a major tree harvesting operation again this year on 81 on the Extract Road. Riders need to follow signs closely, as there are MAJOR reroutes on the Mill Road just North of town. This will effect only traffic coming out of or going to Plunkett Pond for this season. Traffic is being moved off of the Mill Road due to a new home being built there and the road will be plowed. On the South side of town, approximately 3 miles down, we have had to move off the road due to a new landowner, who will move in year-round and will be plowing the road. Both of these changes are permanent and will be marked accordingly, please follow signs closely. Just a couple things before I take off::: Meetings are the 2 nd Tues. of the month at Keith’s barn, 285 Pond Road, unless other- wise advertised on FB. I hope you all have a great Christmas and a Great New Year!! Hold your loved ones close~~ they are so precious!! Jim Splan Reporter @ Large P.S. Charlie~~~ Longjohns!!!! P.SS. John, we need a ROADY!! P.SSS. The cruise winners name next month!! P.SSSS. SNOW DANCE PLEASE!! MOLUNKUS VALLEY SNO-DRIFTERS Sherman, ME Hello Fellow Friends, Here we are think most clubs are geared up and ready to hit the trails sledding. We get- ting things shaped up for a snowy busy winter ahead! We lost one of our members, Paul Qua- ley, on OCT 30TH. HE WAS A ORIGINAL MEMBER OF OUR CLUB AND MSA~~~~ He will be missed by many and wore many hats to help the club anyway, shape or form he could. RIP OUR FRIEND. Our sympathy goes out to our neighboring club, Benedicata Snow Gang whose club president recently lost his friend, Courtney Detour. RIP sweet friend. We have had our potlucks and regular meetings starting in OCT. They have been well attended. We are blessed with the help we get and it is so nice to see new members stepping up!!!! On Nov 28 th we will hold our 17 th annual Christmas Parade and Santa will be in town for all the children to visit after the parade. In Dec. we will have our Christmas Party and take donations for a local charity instead of gift exchange! We are the club where there are no Strangers only friends you haven’t met ☺ New members are always welcome. If you are interested just go to our Facebook page and send us a message! We hope everyone had a Blessed Thanksgiving with their families & friends and a Very Merry Christmas to you all! Til next time Keep on Keeping on! Happy Trails ! Deb Long (MVSD CLUB PRESIDENT!!! ROCKABEMA SNOW RANGERS Patten, ME Email: rockabemasnowrangers@gmail.com FB: Patten - Rockabema Snow Rangers The November meeting was a little different this month. After our Potluck Supper, we held an MSA Trail Signage Workshop with Mark Chinnock, Trails Committee Chair, Mike Grass, Jr., MSA President. and Matt Stedman, VP Northern Region. The workshop was well attended with approximately 25-30 people in attendance. We invited members from the local clubs to join us. The area clubs in attendance were BMSP (Shin Pond), Big Valley Sno Club (Island Falls), Benedicta Snow Gang (Benedicta), Smoki Hauler Snowsled Club (Oakfield) and Ashland Sno-mobile Club (Ashland). Count- ing the MSA President and the Trails commit- tee chair snowmobile club affiliations and our

Deadlines for club news is the 25 th of the month prior to the publications. Please submit articles to editor@mesnow.com

NORTHERN REGION

CHAPMAN RIDGE RUNNERS SNOWMOBILE AND ATV CLUB Chapman, ME

Dear Members, It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I hope you and yours are well and able to get together for the holidays. We are all weary from the current social restrictions and Covid- 19. But the good news is we are all safe to snowmobile; it’s just harder to eat out on the trail. We all know that’s an important part of the sport! The directors have decided to once again postpone our usual events and revisit the situation in January. With an elderly (me included!) membership we do not dare endan- ger any members with underlying medical conditions. The trail crews have been busy putting out stakes, brushing and removing fallen trees, which weren’t too bad considering the high winds we’ve had over the summer and fall. The groomer is all serviced, the pellets are in the groomer barn, and we’ll soon have our tracks on the Ranger Culverts have been marked, stop/stop ahead signs placed and the crew is still working on checking/replacing signs. It takes many hours, not all “man” hours by the way, some women hours too! The Swanback trail has had many hours of work done, with bulldozing, ditching and a lot of rock picking! We still have some beaver dams that will hold up grooming until frozen. New ramps have been made for the rail cross- ing on trail 81, which is the Village trail into Mapleton. But remember that we can’t groom until the ground is frozen. Your secretary has been very busy with grant writing and preparing for the new sea- son. Get your memberships in ASAP and be sure to check off whatever you are able to help with. All clubs need help. FYI, here are some dates for you. The 2020- 2021 was an unusual season. The first date for grooming was 1/24/21. The last date for grooming was 3/19/21. Other years, we have groomed in December and in April! My first ride for the 20/21 season was 1/23/21 and my last ride was 3/14/21. I was able to get in over 1,000 miles, which is average for me. This retirement is busier than one thinks. But back in the 2019-2020 season I had nearly 2,000 miles. My snowmobile log says we had an early spring in 2009/10 and 2014/15. WAGM says that this winter will be very similar to last year. But snowmobile enthusiasts always hope for more snow and a longer season. Here’s wishing you a longer season with plentiful snow and a wonderful Christmas. Happy Holidays Sue Maynard Well,”, we’ve had our first snowfall way up here in the very northern tip of Maine. It quite possibly may not stay, but the “oldtimers” (Which I am rapidly becoming one of them) used to say that the real winter snow is here to stay a month after the first snowfall, and they were usually right. Soo, if that is the way it goes we should be grooming by Mid to late December. The new (to us) groomer is ready and rar- ing to go. Roland and Jeff have gone over it with a fine-tooth comb and we have a bottle of champagne ready for the maiden voyage. (To christen our groomer as in the tradition of ships, not to drink.) We are optimistically preparing for a busy winter. Our intent right now, is to open the ST. FRANCIS SNO ANGELS St. Francis, ME

Had a great group of volunteers work Tues- day, November 16, 2021, performing trail maintenance. Thanks goes to Bub Anderson, Brent McKeen, Bill Weatherhead, Tom Camp- bell, Alex Laporte, and Denis Orthaus. While there was mixed precipitation most of the day, volunteers managed to get all the field mark- ers up and a lot of the signage refreshed on the

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